Going into the event, there was a bittersweet feeling in the air. After what seems like an aeon ago, this would be the final Playup Perth to be run at SK Games as they move on to greener pastures. So, what better way to end the legacy of Playups at SK than another one? Filled with great games and keen developers, the night was a great time for everyone involved. If you missed out, don’t fret, I’ve got the run-down on the games just for you (well, the ones I got around to, at least!).

Endless Runner

If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s play mobile games, but Endless Runner definitely made me smile a bit more than I expected. Sort of like a flipped Temple Runner, Endless Runner involves running through an infinite corridor while jumping up the walls to get through barriers at various heights. It felt like a perfect time-waster for when you’re sitting on a train, and I could feel myself wanting to get further than my last run each time it ended. Hopefully Endless Runner makes a return to Playup in the future so I can see what’s being added… And beat my last run.

Final Days

Zombies may have reached critical cultural mass a few years back, but Final Days is totally cool with a bit more zombie shooting. The game is a twin-stick top-down shooter that has you fight hordes and hordes of zombies, which is a solid formula for any game these days. Funnily enough, I’ve talked to the dev, Michael, since Playup to give him even more feedback, which is kind of what Playup’s all about. He seemed pretty chuffed to be receiving more than the usual, “Oh, it’s pretty good,” and it’ll be interesting to see how it evolves from what he’s receiving.

Vectonic

Bringing the ‘80s back to the future was Vectonic, a simple game about slamming your opponents in hovercrafts. There wasn’t much else to the game than jumping up and slamming down into others, unless you count the ability to spam emojis, but that was enough to sell me. The controls were barebones, only requiring a few buttons to allow the player to move and jump around, but the mechanics were solid as all hell. After having a chat with the dev, I’m sure the game will make a return to Playup later, so I’m excited for that!

Snakez

If you’ve ever played slith.io, you’ll have a good idea of what Wes’ yet unnamed game was all about. The idea was to take Snake and make it into a multiplayer board game, with each player ‘programming’ in their moves well in advance. By doing so, short snakes could still change their trajectory every three turns or so, while huge snakes had to wait 10+ turns to reprogram. It’s an ingenious idea, and I’m very excited to see where Wes takes it.

Starlost

Everyone loves space. It’s a fact. So, when I was offered an iPad with Starlost on it, how could I refuse? The game involves guiding your spaceship around to collect resources and bring them back to the mothership. Of course, there are plenty of enemies trying to stop you, which is where your lasers come into play. For a game so early in development, it looked fantastic, and the combat was faster that a warp drive being engaged for the first time. Not much was shown off on the night, but there’s certainly a lot of potential there for something very cool.

Desert Child

The general reaction to Desert Child was along the lines of, “I have no idea what’s going. This is awesome.” The game has you race against an opponent on a hoverbike, and don’t worry, there’s plenty of lasers and whatnot to destroy anything that gets in your way. It reminded me of Another World, except instead of being focused on a story about prisoners, it was just a crazy race with debris flying everywhere. It was controlled chaos, possibly without the control, and I’m really eager to see what changes this game goes through in the future!

With all the games tried and tested, it was time for everyone to go home and for the devs to mull over all the feedback they’d received. It may not be happening at SK anymore, but Playup Perth will be back very soon. Thankfully, we won’t be running the event in a void; you can catch us down at the delightful Nostalgia Box! Stay tuned for more info!

It’s hard for opposite ends of the country to see each other’s games, especially when the middle of the country is one giant desert. Recently, interstate arcades have started popping up, where developers from across the nation come into one room to show off what they’ve been toiling on. This time at Playup Perth, it wasn’t just about the local games, with offerings from Sydney, Kalgoorlie and even Canada on show! It was an awesome event to see come together, and in Perth no less!

Goatpunks Party

Set up in the main front room was Goatpunks Party from Sydney. The game involves you, a goat, climbing to the top of various kinds of mountains (natural and manmade) and slinging fireballs at everyone else. There are a whole bunch of powerups, from shields to speed buffs, and behind the ridiculous goat-fueled aesthetic is a cunningly nuanced game. It’s a neat little party game, and it has goats, so, it’s the best thing ever.

If you have the burning desire to see more of these goats, check out the website here!

Thwart Geo

Coming all the way from Kalgoorlie was Outback Pixel’s Thwart Geo. It played a bit like asteroids on a touch screen, but there were some important distinctions. You could go for the one-shot by aiming for the middle of the floating baddies, or you could hit them and ram into them. Such strategies, of course, assume you can hit them in the first place, because holy balls, this game was HARD. If you managed to hit things, it felt legendary, and because of that, I liked this game way too much to be healthy.

Roid Rage

Another game from Outback Pixel, Roid Rage was introduced as UI with screen tapping. Look, if you asked me to explain what exactly this game was about, I couldn’t tell you. It was a hectic ride, and the devs certainly didn’t expect anyone to decipher it, but it acted as their jumping point. To them, this was the prototype for bigger things, so it was cool to see nonetheless. I seriously could not explain what you did, though. You tap the screen and then… Magic?

Projection

Shining on from the back of the room was Projection, originally developed in Sydney. The core mechanic of the game was using a light source to create shadows that acted as platforms. It reminded me a lot of Contrast, but with a tighter focus and more unusual art style. It hooked me in from the get-go, and even though I had a friend hazing me on behind me, this is a seriously cool game. I’m hoping it gets developed more because there is potential for something great here!

Morro and Jasp

Gracing the Australian shores was the Canadian ‘improv’ game, Morro and Jasp. The idea is that you play as one (or both in single-player) of two sisters at an improv show. It turns out the two of them have some things to work out, but an improv show is rarely a good place to vent out your inner psyche. There’s Hamlet, there’s drinking, and there’s even an angry producer, and while some of the jokes were pretty hit-and-miss, the characters were endearing in their dysfunctional way.

Rogue Blitz

Finally, for a local touch, was Rogue Blitz, by Perth’s very own Wesley Lamont. The last time I played Rogue Blitz was a few playups ago, and it’s come a long way since then. Instead of looking like a bullet hell wannabe, it now feels and evolves like a bullet hell game for tabletop. The game revolves around dodging the giant boss’ shots from the other side of the table as you gun him down with your allies. It’s a hell of a lot of fun, and it captures that old school Raiden feel!

It was awesome to see games from across the country set up alongside our own. The variety of games being made by places you really wouldn’t expect to find them is outstanding, and some of them are right under our noses. I’m always blown away by the quality of games being made, and it looks like it’s not just us Perthians producing high-quality stuff!

As Comic-Con buzzed away on the other side of Perth, another Playup was silently churning away. While not quite on such a scale as the after dark sessions, some of the best Playups I’ve attended have been during the day. This one mainly consisted of returning veterans, but there was still a newcomer that caught my attention. It was a more intimate affair than usual, but the games on show were definitely worth checking out!

Whacky Ball

First up for me was a game that took me back to the days of the Eye-Toy. Whacky Ball is an iOS game where you bounce a variety of different balls using the camera. Each ball type has its own unique mini-game, and depending on the shape of the ball, you need to use your hands differently to move it where you want. It’s a cool concept, and it would be awesome to see projected on a screen at an event. The thing that caught my eye, though, was the variety in the different mini-games for each ball.

There are a number of balls available in the game, ranging from volleyball to TV-ball. Each one has their own mini-game, like playing pinball with your hands or (my personal favourite) a more ball-ey version of Doodlejump. It’d be great to see more of these kinds of games be developed in the game, and some of them really live up to the game’s name! It’s a nifty idea, and I’m looking forward to see what else gets added in!

Blocaganda

The next game I tried out was Blocaganda, a game that’s passed through the Playup doors more times than I can remember! The foundation of the game is to create tetris shapes on a board of squares in order to acquire ‘votes’. Each tile you place also has a symbol on it, and if you can match the symbol to the one on the shape you’re trying to make, you’ll be get more votes. This had already been tested a few times at Playup, but what was new was the power cards.

One of the issues the game was having previously was that it felt a bit monotonous. Agents moved, tiles were placed but something was missing. Enter power cards: active abilities that you acquired after making a shape. These allowed players to immediately influence the game in unique and sometimes hilarious ways. I thought it was a great addition to the game, and it seemed like the next step from the last time I saw Blocaganda.

Super Salmon Migration

Finally, I indulged in the ever ridiculous Super Salmon Migration, a game so odd that it lets you wear a tutu. as a migrating fish. The aim is swim past obstacles and get as far as you can without slamming into the ground or an orca. The last time I saw the game was a couple Playups ago, and it was still more of a demo than something you’d call a game. After some time, it’s grown into something a more robust and ludicrous.

With such a ridiculous name, you probably won’t be shocked to learn that this game is amazingly nuts. Orcas and logs are commonplace in water, but shields and cyborgs are a bit more fitting of a super salmon’s migration. Bouncing off of the terrain is great fun too, and is, in some cases, required to get past some of the obstacles. It’s progressing nicely, and I hope it just gets getting more bizarre as time goes on!

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to play all the games at a single Playup, but don’t think this made the event bad. I was able to chat with the devs about how they were approaching their games, what was in store for the future and heaps of DnD tales. As usual, the devs appreciated any feedback we could give, and they could go into more depth than usual thanks to the smaller numbers. I’m not expecting the next After Dark session to be small, though, and it should be coming up very soon…

A few weeks ago, this years’ Global Game Jam quietly ran for any Perth dwellers mad enough to try and make a game in 48 hours. I was there, and let me tell you, my game sucked, but there was some damn good stuff being pumped out! This playup was a chance for the participants to show off their efforts and celebrate the fact that they made a game in 48 hours (quite the achievement). After a brief introduction to all the games and a reminder that the Murdoch site made some weird stuff, we got into it!

Of course, I’m just one man, so I got Rohan from Gamecloud to help ensure that all 11 games were given a crack.

Inti’s Trial

Nick: Made by a father and son duo, Inti’s trial is a simple maze game. You, a small ball, start off at the top of a totem and need to navigate through the carvings and reach the fire at the bottom. It’s nothing flashy, but it’s really cool to see something made by family at these sorts of events. It doesn’t seem likely to be worked on again, but it’s a nice example of what can be done with the people around you.

Symphony of the machine

Rohan: Described by team member Lisa Rye as a ‘mechanical rain-dance’, Symphony of the machine was a standout to me, and not solely because it was the only game of the night to utilise a VR kit. Making use of a relatively small active space, the game limits player movement to the interior of a futuristic bio dome with a view of a distant alien landscape. A glowing interface recalls various combinations of arcane symbols as the player attempts to resolve a specific combination, which will result in alien plant growth. With an aesthetic somewhat reminiscent of early 90s VR, its control method was simple enough to grasp in a single sitting. I even managed to avoid the nauseating vertigo of my earlier experiences with stereoscopic headsets, instead feeling calmly immersed and rather oblivious to the view of my bumblings, which were projected on SK’s back wall for all to see.

Golem’s Wake

Nick: Golem’s Wake looked like an ambitious game that only had 48 hours to come to life. It was a resource collection game, with the end goal of summoning a giant golem from the earth (because why not, right?). You can summon small golems to help speed up the process, and after a while, you’ll heave a heap of mini-golems doing your bidding. It’s quite a simplistic system, but it felt like if the game was worked on some more, it could develop into something quite interesting.

Break Out

Rohan: Another one of the more finished concepts created at Game Jam this year, Break Out is part joke, part puzzle game. It plays on established perceptions of the conventional player/world relationship and tries to break those expectations. Apart from the initial explicit goal of finding your way out of maze in the fastest time possible, the game lends itself to ambient exploration, featuring a retro-esque voxel look which makes thoughtful use of space balanced with selective detail.

Azimuth

Nick: The first of the tabletop games I tried out, Azimuth, was a novel mix of resource collection, positioning and timing. The main mechanic of the game was positioning your priests to gain resources, but if the sun or moon passed by a priest in your turn, you’d get an extra resource. Unfortunately, I kinda broke the game when I realised that you could gain and sacrifice priests, thus resulting in ALL THE VICTORY POINTS, but it was fun nonetheless. It’s a nifty game, and I’d definitely like to see Wes work on it in the future.

Ritual Failure

Rohan: Humbly described as a ‘running simulator’ by developer Grae Saunders, Ritual Failure could easily be pinned as a procedural mushroom dungeon crawler. The game centres on a musical co-op element where bizarre looking guardian creatures are summoned in order to protect the players from hordes of bats, with somewhat unpredictable results. Through the combined effort of a 5 strong team, Grae sought this year’s Game Jam as an opportunity to extend his graphics skills in order to better work with others in his regular role as programmer.

Bathtime Exorcist

Nick: We were warned at the beginning of the night that the Murdoch site had made some rather strange games, and let me tell you, Bathtime Exorcist delivered on that promise. Your roommate Jeb gets possessed, and it’s your job to exorcise the demon using household implements and an ancient exorcism guide. It’s probably the product of sleep deprivation and skulling a few too many energy drinks, but this game is just absurdly funny. It’ll probably never get looked at again, but it was definitely one of my favourites of the night. Bloody Jeb.

Mage Masher

Rohan: Secretly known as Nicholas Mage, Mage Masher is an arena style shooter, with noted influences from Unreal and other similar-era twitch shooters. Featuring procedurally generated maps and a straight forward premise, Mages perform summoning rituals in order to gain elemental powers. You are then obligated, as all mages are, to relentlessly throw said powers at your opponents!

Banishment

Nick: The other tabletop game on show, Banishment, put one player in the shoes of a demon and pitted them against everyone else, the exorcists. To banish the demon, the exorcists had to complete a number of rituals, but the demon had powers of his own to keep the game going and eventually win. For a game made in 48 hours, it’s surprisingly fun and well-balanced, and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as ruining your enemies’ plans with a well-placed demon card. It’s a functional, enjoyable game, and for something that came out of a game jam, that’s pretty awesome!

Mime Madness

Rohan: A novel concept based loosely on charades, Mime madness involves a co-operative element where the player’s goal is to free their counterpart by combining various ingredients in a cauldron in order to enable a spell reversal. The other player performs mime through use of limited character movements in attempts to direct them to the correct ingredients. A maiden Game Jam effort for most of the 4 man team, developer Ben Lemmon cheerily described the experience as having an ‘optimistic start and pessimistic finish’.

Too Many Cats

Nick: Following the trend of weird Murdoch games, Too Many Cats is a game about morning rituals. After you set up your ritual in the morning, going through the motions makes cats appear. And butterflies. And weirder things. It’s not really a game so much as a neat little experience, but it’ll definitely leave you questioning what the hell is going on. Alas, it doesn’t seem likely that anything will come of it, but at least we got cats along the way.

Must

Rohan: Created by solo jammer Vivien Lengkeek, Must is an exploration into what she describes as “everyday obsessive activities”. The result approaches a form of touch-based interactive poetry made using the Twine engine. The game takes on an appropriately minimalistic appearance, and mirroring a particularly pervasive form of compulsive behaviour, compels the player to accept one option to the exclusion of all others. Must is an example of a game that attempts to make a personal statement, rather than place emphasis on more common entertainment aspects.

Some of these games were insanely impressive, regardless of the fact that they were made in 48 hours. The fact that they were made in 48 hours is just mind-boggling, but not in the Jeb-got-possessed-again kind of way. It was a great playup to see what was possible when you put your mind to something, and I’m hoping that next year’s GGJ playup has even more games on show!

It’s no surprise that it’s hard being a game developer, especially if you try to go for it full-time. It’s a labour of love, but the devs here in Perth are crazy enough to go for it, even if it means tinned tomatoes for dinner. Playup Perth was established to help out these local devs in connecting with the public, and with the latest Playup, we’ve finally made a connection to the political players too. It was a special night filled with heaps of games, so for everyone who coudln’t make it, here’s a quick rundown of the evening.

It all started off with a quick discussion from local devs about what they’d like to see from the local industry. Scott Ludlam was present to make sure he got a clear picture of what could be done for these guys, and, you know, to play some games. There were some great points made from all round, but there was one clear message behind them all: Perth is a pretty rad place to be. Everyone said only positive things about the community here, and it really is remarkable when you consider how isolated we are from one another.

The main hurdle mentioned by the speakers wasn’t to do with making games, but it was having the capacity to make them that was the issue. Financial limitations and a lack of dedicated office space (like Spacecubed) means producing high quality games is difficult without resorting to Kickstarter or moving to Melbourne. There are very talented people here in Perth, but they don’t have anywhere to flourish, and that’s a problem. It’s difficult for game devs to make the changes they’d like to see without support from somewhere else, but once it gets off and running, it’s a different story.

What was ultimately desired was to put Perth on the map as a hub for sustainable game development. Simply being given money is one thing, but being able to take that money and turn it into an ongoing source of income is quite another. Scott Ludlam briefly reminded us all there’s also more to all this than just making money. Games are a new art form, and while we haven’t seen much to suggest that from the medium yet, the early days of film were just as questionable. After some great discussion, we were all ready to get playing, and we did just that!

Bramblelash

The last time I had my hands on Bramblelash was a few Playups ago, and a lot has changed since then. The core mechanic of having a line of bramble join two players is still intact, but now there’s stuff like terrain and different game modes in the mix. The PVP mode involves some hilarious backstabbing, and the co-op adventure mode is looking like it’ll be a great romp with a few friends on the couch. Apparently it’s on Steam Greenlight, but without a single player mode (which seems impossible), it seems like a strange choice to release it there. Still, it’s grown into a solid game thus far, and hopefully it will only become more polished moving forward!

Valiant

No matter how many times I try out Valiant, I’m always impressed at how satisfying the game feels. There’s something about riding a horse in VR and slamming your lance into some other sucker that’s so damn pleasing. The last few times I’ve tried indulging in VR, that horrible motion sickness hit after a few minutes, but the guys have been hard at work to fix it for Valiant. I can safely say that this time round was the best yet, thanks to the addition of a fixed helmet on the screen, so I could joust dudes down for hours if I had to. There were also new weapons and AI this time around, so I’m looking forward to seeing what else the guys put in there for next time!

D3bug

There’s nothing like a platformer with a quirk, and D3bug seems to have caught onto that. It’s a typical platformer, but you can morph the stage with a variety of “hacks”, like making a platform acquire it’s own gravity. If I was a kid, I would be freaking out that I could change the world to suit my needs, which probably sounds a little psychopathic, but it’s a really interesting idea to explore. This was just the first public showing of the game, so the demo was extremely short, but I’m really excited to see where Stirfire takes it!

Worlds Fastest Pizza

Picture the most outrageous pizza delivery you’d ever have to do. Multiply that by a thousand, then shove a flying shark in there, and you get a sense of what World’s Fastest Pizza is all about. It’s a bit like if GTA was a game about delivering pizza while ingesting as much meth as possible, all while making sure you don’t get fired. Or die. Needless to say, it bewildered me in all the right ways, and while it was more zaney rollercoaster than full game, it kept me coming back again and again.

Cogz

If you’ve been to almost any gaming event around Perth, chances are Wes Lamont’s Cogz has made an appearance. After a successful kickstarter and a heap of playtesting, Cogz is available to the public in both human and ludicrous sizes. I’ve only seen the ludicrous size from afar, and I’ve always thought that a lot of work went into those wooden pieces. Turns out they’re cardboard, so it’s just like playing the small version (which was already pretty fun) but on a ridiculous scale. There’s not much to say about Cogz other than that it’s good to go, and if a competitive multi-player puzzle game sounds interesting, I’d recommend checking it out.

Unfortunately, because there were so many games, I couldn’t get around to trying them all out. Thankfully, Bernadette over at Gamecloud took up the reigns and covered the other games (including Star Hammer, One Night Only and Blitz Bandits), which you can read over here!

It was a very special night for everyone involved, and a great evening for all the local devs to connect with someone from the political sphere. This is what Playup Perth is all about, after all, and seeing Scott Ludlam take in all the potential on display makes me optimistic about the changes we can make for the local scene to grow. Hopefully, we can bring in more high-profile guests for future Playups, but only time will tell.